Steve's Scanner Shop

Understanding Speech Inversion

By Steve Donnell

W
ay back in the days prior to DVP When speech is inverted, it is mixed has lead to the development of specialized
and digital-narrowband with an audio tone called a "pilot carrier". res that permit speech inversion based
encoding one of the first(if not The is an audio tone in the 2,800 - 3,600 Hz scramblers to be produced on tiny modules
THE first) forms of speech range. Typically either 3,300 or 3,500 Hz. If not any larger than a book of matches,
scrambling was a technique known as you recall what happens when two AC making them possible to install in even the
"speech inversion". This provided a way for signals( radio or audio) are mixed together; smallest of the newest portable radios.
Police and some Business radio users to They add and subtract with respect to their Additional design improvements include
obtain some degree of privacy in thei r radio orig inal frequencies, resulting in the use of quartz crystal as pilot tone
communications. As radio technology (product)signals o n entirely n ew frequency references and the use of digital
enters an increasingly digital-era, it is frequencies. Voice audio energy that was audio filtering techniques.
interesting to see that speech inversion originally at say, 2,800 Hz is now shifted In reality, inversion scrambling offers
remains a common means of achieving, down to 500 Hz, and voice audio the stated very little in the way of"real" voice security,
albeit lo-level, security on different types of out at 500 Hz becomes 2,800 Hz. If you look primarily because of how easy the format is
radios. If you've tuned across various parts a this process in the form of a spectral graph to break. Many years back, a friend of mine
of the VHF/UHF spectrum, you may well of the audio voice band, you would discovered the he could acceptably decode
have already heard speech inversion effectively see the spectral arrangement of inverted audio used on the local Police
scrambling being used. Inverted speech is original audio signal to become flipped channel by simply injecting the correct
transmitted using the same type of radios around or "inverted", hence the name: audio tone from a signal generator, to serve
that carry "normal" speech. The phrase used Speech inversion. as a the pilot carrier, into a scanner directly
by many people to describe what inverted The use of different pilot carrier at the volume control. Despite the technical
speech is that is sounds like "Donald Duck frequencies effectively creates a primitive limitations, besides some of the technical
talk". Another way of putting it is that it form of access "key code"; Speech inverted improvements that we mentioned along
sounds like a mis-tuned Single Sideband using one pilot frequency, can't be decoded with decreases in costs which enable speech
radio signal. by anyone that has the same type of inverter modules to be priced in the area of
In order to understand the process of inversion scrambler, unless their equipment $100.00 a piece, has continued to keep
how speech inversion works, you must first is also set to use the same pilot carrier as speech inversion scrambling alive and well.
realize that human speech consists of a wide well. This can be a handy way to provide One additional factor that may play a
range of possible audio tones. Each spoken (voice)privacy between several different part in promoting the growth of inversion
syllable consists of a wide band of sound user groups on a shared UHF Business scrambling in recent years is that if you
energy. As seen used in two-way radio, the repeater or on a local Police frequency recall, any encrypted form of radio
frequency range(band width) is where you might want to have different communications to be included as one of the
intentionally limited to between 300-3,000 scrambling codes(tones), where one is for specific categories of the original
Hz. this is done in order to lim it the band Detectives and one for sensitive Dispatch ECPA(Electronic Communications Privacy
width(channel size) needed. Other radio matters. Act). In theory at least, this gives some
services such as FM and TV broadcasts are Early designs of speech inversion degree of extra protection to any type of
permitted a wider bandwidth so as to scrambling equipment usually consisted of scrambled transmissions, even those done
accommodate the more complex sounds of rather bulky add-on pieces, often these were using a low-level technique such as speech
musical instruments. not all that stable or reliab le, particularly in inversion. Speech inversion can at least
harsh mobile usage serve to limit "casual" monitoring of
conditions. Even communications that are encoded using this
very small shifts in technique. This is why inversion scrambling
the frequency of the capability as a designed-in feature has
pilot tone would shown up in a variety of products such as
cause the decoded cordless phones along with some Marine
audio to sound band and even FRS radios.
distorted. However in Some of the same technological
past several years, advances that helped fuel the growth of
advanc es i n "simple" speech inversion has also lead to
integrated circuit the development of much more advanced
technology, variants of speech scrambling: One example
particularly in the of this is a technique called "split band".
area of what is called This works the same way as regular
'mixed signal' where inversion scrambling, except that the
analog(audio) and original audio signal is broken down into
digital signals can be two separate bands. Each using different
handled on one IC, pilot tone frequencies. Although we can't

22 Scanning USA The ONLY Magazine Devoted To Scanning! Febraury 2000

 verify this , it is reported that this type of scrambling can be or "Don Nobles"(DNE). Currently one rather sophisticated
effectively broken, using some of the same equipment that unit that is avai lable for the experimenter/builder is a
w ill work on "single band" inversion scrambling. An even (scrambler/)descrambler kit from Ramsey Electronics. T he
more sophisticated form of inversion scrambling is called Ra msey SS-70A scramb ler/ descrambler is a hi gh
"rolling code". This technique has a continuously changing performance circu it. One possible drawback is that it's pilot
pilot tone that changes in a seudo- tone is fixed at 3,300 Hz. Check
random pattern. It can be recognized out their Web page at www.
by hearing a chirp or click every ', DS49-: a.Jl
··~ ~ ~
ramseykits.com . You can also
couple of seconds. T his is a check over some of the tiny
synchronizing pulse that ensures the Descrambler: unit, scramb ler/descramlber modules
receiving radio(s) stay in step with L f i. \'1 }_~j-'.iffi, ,.,, '~ .• ' from MX-Corn at their Web
the signal being transmitted. Rolling s ite:www.mxcom.com . One
code is most often employed by company that still has inversion
high-end Business radio users or descramblers available is CTP.
Police that realize the security Their DS49 uses a design s imilar
limitations of "simple" inversion to the old Cpari/Don Noble units.
scrambling. While rolling code While these are not the most
scramblers cost about $400 - 500.00 advanced in design, they can
a piece, this is much less than the reportedly descramb le the so-
$thousands that top of the line digital ca lled "split band" form of
scrambling equipment can cost. inversion scrambling. The DS49 is small enough to install
A lthou gh most sp eech inversion descramblers inside many types of scanners and they also have one that
specifically intended for use with scanners have largely operates from a 9 volt battery and has a case which includes a
disappeared from the market due to legal concerns. These belt clip, making it compatible for portable operations. Check
decoders can sometimes be spotted at Ham fleamarkets; Be o ut CT P's Web Pa ge at:
on the look out for any small boxes that bear the name "Capri" http://members. aol.com/ctpds49/ index.html .

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23 Scanning USA The ONLY Magazine Devoted To Scanning! February 2000